Waiting for sunshine
by Javelinia777
Summary: A prequel to my earlier story 'Good Advise' You don't need to read that one before though. Mikan And Natsume meet six years after graduating form the academy and going there separate ways. Will love bloom once again? Not without some help from friends...
1. A date

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and I do not stand to profit from it.**

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A/N: Almost didn't write this. So I'd like to thank all the reviewers of my earlier story Good Advise for inspiring me to make this fic. Thank you kaile12, Mokona05, viviennerosethorn for your suggestions as well as Sakura Breeze and HILLARYDv for encouraging me. This story is dedicated to all of you.

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Chapter 1: A Date

MORNING

"Ack ..achoo" "I'm tired, I can't put up with you anymore."  
"Achoo..."  
"Don't even think of calling me again, I'm changing my number."  
A soft sound of feet being thrust into shoes, a click of heels, the sound of a door being closed and she was gone. Goodbye Natsume.  
I stared at the pool of blood before me. I'm in my dining room. The clean, white linen cloth on the dining table before me is splattered with my blood. Another coughing fit in the last six hours! My head hurts, my body aches all over, my throat is swollen from all that coughing and my eyes are stinging due to lack of sleep. I haven't slept in the last twenty-four hours.

Sharon, (the one who left just now after forbidding me against calling her again) and I had a huge fight yesterday morning. I got busy with the alcohol after our fight and was stone-drunk by the time she came back home in the evening. I was in this same dining room then, stumbling all over the place with an empty wine bottle in my hand, singing to some incoherent tune and banging the bottle against the linen-covered table, hardly aware of what I was doing. She made no comment at my appalling state, (she must have gotten used to it by now in our four month old relationship) simply pursed her lips and walked away to our bedroom.

I hadn't slept last night although I felt drained of all physical strength (Sleep and I have long ago parted from being close companions and are only occasional acquaintances now).  
And just this morning now, she simply informed me that she was leaving from the living room itself and left without even coming to look at me here. I wonder if she feared that her conscience might force her to stay if she saw me in this state with all the blood around. But then again, that was the last thing I could expect from a woman who had entered into a relationship with me, only for the purpose of climbing the corporate ladder in our firm. I had met her when she was just a new entrant into our field but had risen through the ranks due to my sponsorship.

Physically, we had a great relationship. I only saw her at night and during quickies in the office. Four months and we had never had a single, heart-to-heart conversation. She never seemed to mind my drunken stupors, only being perturbed when she felt I embarrassed her at our rare public appearances together and our relationship somehow dragged through the past four months.

Then last month, my boss had started dropping hints about my services eventually being terminated in our firm and she had subtly moved on to him. "It wouldn't have lasted anyway and I'm not interested in having a so-called relationship with a rotten drunk like you." was all she had said when I confronted her yesterday. Oh yes, pity was the last thing I could expect from that cold-hearted bitch! She was gone now. The fourth in my string of 'emotionally-unattached' live-ins.

Another coughing fit seized me as I felt my head fall to the table and everything around me went blank.

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AFTERNOON

I was woken up from my unconscious state by the piercing ring of my cell-phone. Thankfully it was lying next to me and I retrieved it quickly and answered the call.

"I heard what happened Natsume," said the voice of the one person in the world who had played a part in salvaging the remains of the life that I was now living.

"She left this morning Ruka, I..." Grief overcame me and I could continue no further. This man had been through everything with me, the horrific relationships, the stints in rehab, the drunken binges and now overbearing feelings of shame assaulted me as I spoke to him.

"How are you? You sound awful"

"The way you found me after I found about Ayumi's affair." (Ayumi was the third live-in eight months back. Off all the four, I think she was the only one who had cared but my behaviour back then was so unabashed, I had driven almost everyone to the edge. It didn't take her long to stop caring and soon, she too moved on to someone else. I had drunk myself to rehab after I found out)

"Not again," groaned Ruka. "Where are you now?" he asked.

"In the dining room. I haven't slept since yesterday. I feel weak and I'm afraid i'll fall if I get up from here and try to move."

"Okay. Stay there. I'm coming to get you."

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In spite of the fear that I had expressed to Ruka, I managed to haul myself up and walk to the living room, moving around a bit before plunging on to the couch. It was one one o'clock now and I had nothing more to do except wait for my best friend to come.

Yes, Ruka is still my best-friend and has remained with me all these years after we left the academy. We went to the same law school, got a job in the same firm and he has been my regular confidant throughout these six tumultuous years.

He is extremely hardworking and is a highly respected litigator in our circle now. He's also never had a relationship these past five years. Just a brief fling in law-school that resulted in him being broken-hearted and swearing off love forever. Since then, its been a long, lonely journey for him as well.

How? Why have our lives become this way. How did everything go wrong?, I thought. I wish could rewind and go back to the carefree, secluded years in the academy. Back to everyone that I had ignored and now lost touch with, back to those boring lessons that I had had such fun in cutting while enjoying the pleasant breezes in my favorite sakura tree, back to being treated like a star by the entire school (Yes I had enjoyed that though I never admitted it and now this loneliness makes me want all that attention back!) back to...

I heard a car drive in to my compund. A few hurried footsteps and a moment later the sound of my front door bell ringing echoed thorugh the empty house.

"Its open Ruka," I said.

The door opened and a tall, blond man walked in. Ruka's face was clouded with worry. "Why was the door open, Natsume?" he asked

"Sharon never bothered closing and I'm too tired to get up and do the deed," I said.

Ruka slowly scrutinized my environment. "There are empty liquor bottles lying around Natsume. You have been drinking again haven't you?" he said as he sat down in an arm-chair across me. The concern in the tone of Ruka's voice made my emotionally starved life a lot better.

"Yes," I said "and if you look in the dining room you'll find that I've been coughing blood again."

A line appeared on his white forehead and he said, "Look Natsume, its been too long now and we've tried everything we could."

"I know, Ruka."

"You simply can't go on like this. You've already been to the hospital once and rehab twice and you know as well as I that you hate it."

"More than I hate Sharon and her new boyfriend."

"You know what you're running from."

"Don't start that again Ruka."

"You might have stopped me six years ago, Natsume but its time I bring it up again. You've been through too much... I'm trying to contact Mikan."

"How?" I asked

"All of us lost touch long back. I couldn't find anything about her, neither through the academy, nor through anyone else. So I'm trying to contact her through Hotaru.

"Forget it Ruka. There's no use of that now. I don't think she'll ever want to speak to me again. Not after..."

"After that 'momentous' incident Natsume, Mikan did try to reach out to you. You know how warm and loving she has always been. She doesn't care about that now."

"That was years ago, in the academy. She must have grown-up now, matured. I'm nothing but a faded, unpleasant memory in her mind by now Ruka and I pushed her away because I couldn't bear to hurt her anymore. She'll be happier away from me."

"How do you know?"

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EVENING

Ruka's POV

I just couldn't avoid the uncomfortable sensation niggling me at the back of my mind as I slowly typed her name. The search engine showed 20,090 results for the name 'Hotaru Imai'. I clicked on the first one that gave her Wikipedia profile:

Name : Imai Hotaru; D.O.B.: October 25th; Occupation: Inventor, Tycoon. A pioneer in the field of supra-ionic radio communications. Has made numerous invetions in this field including the ionization accelerator and the anti-gravitational vacuumized energy transporter which have contributed significantly to the field of telecommunications. Education: Passed out with the highest grades in her graduation class, completed her diplomas in business and engineering within two years and went on to set up one of the biggest conglomerates in the telecommunications business under the name of 'Imai Industries' of which she is currently the chairwoman.

Wow! Now that has to be one of the most impressive resumes I ever read. I skimmed through the rest of her bio, Early life, Life after school, Imai industries, Personal life(read through that one to make sure she's single)... and scrolled down to the external links section at the bottom of the page and clicked on the one for access to her official website. The contact page on the site had a few cell phone numbers. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a towel-clad Natsume walk in from the bathroom. He walked up to my desk, placed a hand on the back of my chair and peered at the screen.

"So our Imai has made a name for herself in the world," he said, "looking through the contacts, I see. You should call her."

"Its her secretary's number, I'll schedule an appointment."

Three rings and I a heard an unfamiliar monotone at the other end of the line, "Good evening, you have reached Miss. Imai's secretary, please state your name and nature of business."

"I am Ruka Nogi, an old, school friend of Miss Imai and I'd like to talk to her on a personal matter," I said

"I am afraid, Miss Imai doesn't have time for old school suitors and admirers sir, if the nature of your business isn't important, I'll end our conversation here and you may join her fan page on Facebook and declare your endless love for her there," she said in the same boring, monotone without the slightest trace of anger, mockery or amusement in her voice to match the meaning of her sentence. _She probably answers a hundred such calls from Hotaru's admirers in a day, _I thought_. _

"Look, I'm not a suitor. Miss Imai will remember me. If you could just give her my name and number..." I trailed of hurriedly before she could dismiss my call. At that, she asked me to wait and after a few minutes I was put through to the one beautiful monotone I had grown up hearing. "What is it Ruka?" she said simply, as if we weren't speaking to each other after a gap of almost six years and had a casual conversation at least once everyday.

"I...um Hotaru... How are you?" I said.

"I'm fine thank you," she said, "I am in the middle of an important teleconference and am pausing just for you. So state your business quickly."

"Oh...um so, I wanted to talk to you." I said dumbly. _Man, what should I say to her,_ I thought.

In front of me, Natsume made a few gestures about making an appointment with her to meet somewhere. _But would she agree to see us so readily. Even after what happened between all of us all those years back at the academy... _

"You _are_ talking to me," she said with a slight hint of anger in her voice, breaking my trail of thought. "If you don't tell me what this is about, you are wasting my time, slowing down the growth of my business _and _that of my money." This time her voice had a hint of exasperation along with anger.

"Hotaru, I really need to talk to you about something important. Can we meet. Its nothing formal but I can make an appointment," I said

A minute-long pause during which I made uncomprehending gestures toward Natsume's questioning expressions while keeping an alert ear toward the phone.

"I am busy this whole week. The only time I'm free is now in twenty minutes after this conference. If it suits you, meet me at the Ediko Tsunachi in half an hour."

_That sounds okay_ "All right, I'll see you there in half an hour, Hotaru," I said.

"Yes, fine, its a date then, goodbye."

'A Date'?...

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A/N: I am sorry if this chapter was too dull or boring. The next one, I promise, will be much more fun (Mikan turns up in the next chapter). The incident that occurred between our four favorite characters (Well, mainly between Mikan and Natsume) will also be revealed in the second chapter. Till then, I'm waiting for your reviews, thoughts and comments. I'd love to know what you think. Constructive criticism is very much welcome and this time, I'll try not to be tardy and reply to all my reviewers. Thank you for reading.


	2. In touch

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and I do not stand to profit from it.**

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A/N: Words in italics mean that they are thoughts going on inside the character's heads unless they are in a conversation which means that I have added them there for emphasis.

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Chapter 2: In touch

"I still can't believe you talked me into this Natsume," said Ruka Nogi as he nervously fixed his tie and glanced at himself in the mirror.

"You look great Ruka," said Natsume, "Good enough for the chairwoman of Imai industries to fall for you."

"Besides finiding about Mikan's whereabouts and convincing Hotaru Imai to let you meet her, I think my agenda's too full to woo the chairwoman of Imai industries as well, Natsume,"

"Oh I'm sure you can find a way to insert that clause in your list as well, Mr. Lawyer," chuckled Natsume, "though I still don't understand why she agreed to meet you. The two of you hadn't really been good friends back in school then, had you?"

"How many people had Hotaru been 'good friends' with, back in school then Natsume?

"Yes, she was a bit cold back then wasn't she?" said Natsume.

"Yes," said Ruka, "sub-zero cold and I'm not sure if the ice has melted now either."

"Funny, Ruka. Why do you think she agreed to meet you now, then? You didn't give her much reason to see you in your rather detailed phone conversation and she obviously dosen't expect you to bring a sackful of money with you."

"Yeah... I don't know Natsume, lets see."

"Ruka, do you still... still think Mikan will be ready to forgive me and take me back?"

"Hey, nothing's for sure Natsume. But if you still love her, it can all be worked out," smiled Ruka and with a last glance in the mirror, headed out of his best-friend's house.

Natsume closed the door behind Ruka and gave a deep sigh. What would he have done without this man? In the past six years, he had become much more than a best-friend to him. He had done so much more for him than any brother or family member could have. Also, no one understood him like Ruka did. He was the one who realized that Natsume was in love with Mikan leagues before the young fire-caster himself.

_How is this gonna work out_ he wondered. Does Hotaru truly know where we can find Mikan? and if she does, will Mikan ever forgive me, after...

FLASHBACK

"So, its agreed then, you shall ask her to meet you behind the sakura tree at the back of the middle-school building, Natsume."

"Yes, whatever you say," said the crimson-eyed boy.

"Then, you ask her to wait there."

"Yes."

"After that, you walk away from there and don't ever look back,"

"Anything you say," he said. He had know way of knowing the meaning behind the evil glint in her blue eyes, so he had gone of in search of his girlfriend and done everything according to what Luna had said. He had been in a trance back then but, he still couldn't forget the look on Mikan's face after what he had done.

"Mikan," he had called out to her.

Mikan was seated on a bench in the school grounds, chatting with her group of friends including Hotaru, Sumire and Koko. She looked up when he had called out her name and waved to him. "Natsume chan, come sit with us," she said, "Where were you in the afternoon? You missed Jinno sensei's class again. He's going to be furious with you."

Natsume didn't reply to her question. He was in a trance. He only had to accomplish the task at hand and could think of nothing else. Anything else said to him was meaningless then. "You must come with me Mikan. To the back of the middle school building, beneath the Sakura tree." he said, sticking to the script.

Mikan blushed at that. The sakura tree was, Natsume's favorite place for make-out sessions. Ever since the start of their relationship last year (Natsume had finally asked her out at the beginning of their second year of middle school) Hotaru and some of her other friends or some unfortunate passerby had often caught her and Natsume pinned against the tree and engaged in a steamy liplock. The area wasn't as secluded as she had earlier thought and her pleas to Natsume to not do it there so often seemed to fall on deaf ears even when she told him how much easier it became for Hotaru to blackmail them with pictures of their 'too friendly pastime' as she called it underneath the Sakura tree.

She turned her gaze back to her boyfriend. _Okay, just this once_ she thought. I'll talk him out of it later. She took hold of Natsume's hand. Something, was strange, although he didn't pull back his hand, he didn't tighten the grasp of his hand on hers like he usually did either, just let it hang there limply in her palm. _Oh nevermind_, she thought, and tightened the hold herself as she said goodbye to her friends and headed off with Natsume towards the middle school area.

He never once tried to say anything during the entire walk towards the tree and halted all her attempts at conversation with only curt replies. Mikan thought it was odd but she trusted Natsume more than anything else and knew he probably had some surprise planned for her when they got there. She never once thought he would betray her, in a way that would scar her for life. She stared at him. His hair was disheveled, as if he had just gotten out of bed. Her inquiry about it, though was only met with another blank stare from him.

They reached the tree. "Close your eyes," he said, he had never sounded so cold in his life, "and wait till I return." She obedintly did as her boyfriend requested and dropped her eyelids. All went black before her. After a few seconds, Mikan got impatient and wondered what he was upto. She couldn't resist a peek and slowly opened her left eye and squinted at the scene before her. Nothing, just the dark green trees bordering the woods and the small patch of clearing before her. He wasn't there. A few more minutes and he still wasn't back. Her eyes now fully open, Mikan was worried. She frantically looked about her and even called his name a few times. The sky was pitch black now and the bright lights of the middle school building were distant.

_He isn't coming back_ her mind said and she shivered as another thought came to her. _Why would he leave me and run away like this, am I in some danger?_ The area was getting darker as the faint distant lights of the school building were slowly disappearing, one by one. She hadn't realized how late it was. _Run, I should run._ Before, she could command her legs to move as her mind commanded, a strong hand clamped over her mouth and pressed into it muffling the scream that instinctively reached her mouth.

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NATSUME'S POV

Natsume was back in his room and in bed fully dressed. Getting up, he switched on the lamp on his nightstand and looked at his alarm clock. It's almost 8pm, _I didn't realize it was that late. Have I been asleep for that long? and why am I in the academy uniform. _"Ouch!" he said and glanced at his shoulder. There was a searing pain there as if something was gnawing at his shoulder.

He placed a hand on his collar and moved aside his shirt partly exposing his white shoulder. There was a very nasty bite mark on the skin just centimetres from his neck. _What? I was in my room the whole time, wasn't I?_ he thought. _Where did I get this from? Did I go out? But that's... impossible._

I desperately searched my memory to see if I could recollect anyting about today. Let's see, I had woken up in the morning, it was almost seven and I had felt a little giddy and also some pounding in my head, so I decided to stay back in bed a little longer. I had fallen asleep then and a pounding sound on my door woke me up. "Natsume its almost eight, are you awake? We're almost late for class."

I hesitated for a second and reluctantly got out of bed, in my nightclothes and went to open the door.  
On opening the door, I was greeted by the sight of Ruka's clear, worried blue eyes. "Natsume are you well?" he asked, "You aren't dressed yet, are you coming for class today?"

I touched my forehead, I could still feel like someone was stabbing at it rythmically and it hurt a lot rendering me unable to think coherently. "I am sorry Ruka. I'm having a headache. I think I'll just skip today's classes, atleast the morning ones."

His clear eyes took on a tender appearance. "Allright, but stay in bed Natsume, atleast until the headache subsides," he said, "I'll come back to check on you later, during lunch or mabye in the evening.

"Okay, see you Ruka." I said and then closed the door, switched off the lamp on my nightstand and got back in bed. I didn't remember anything after that and I was in my nigthclothes the entire time. _Then why am I now in my uniform?_ asked my mind._ Have I suddenly started sleepwalking? If so what else have I done_.

I looked around my room taking in everything and my eyes landed on my shoes near the door. The soles had some dry mud on them and a few bits of grass were sticking out. _What? I had just cleaned them last night and if I don't remember leaving my room today..._ An overwhelming feeling of fear assaulted me, _Something's wrong. What's hapenning? Why is everything so weird all of a sudden?_

_I won't find my answers here_ I thought and hurriedly went to see the bathroom mirror. My hair still had the same dishevelled appearance as in the morning. Once again I heard a pounding sound on my door along with the sound of Ruka's voice telling me to open up. I quickly moved out of the bathroom and went to open the door to be be greeted the second time that day by Ruka's worried face.

He pulled me out immediately. "Natsume where have you been? I searched for you all over the academy," he said.

"I was in my room Ruka. I don't remember going out today." I told him.

"Nevermind," he said taking hold of my hand, "we have to get to the school hospital right now, something awful has happened," With that, he pulled me along with him through the corridor after I barely managed to lock my door.

After ten minutes of making a headway towards the ground floor entrance of the building and hurriedly making our way across the school grounds towards the hospital, we were almost at the medical building's entrance. I had managed to glean from him that we were going to to visit Mikan and that something awful had happened to her.

There was a huge crowd around the hospital. Atleast a hundred students had gathered around and were communicating with each other in whispers with looks ranging from curious to frightened on their faces. As we came closer to the entrance, I could make out Jinno sensei, Narumi sensei and almost half the school staff. They too looked worried and I could also make out the middle school principal talking to two men dressed in police clothes. _The police are here! What the hell is happening._ Next to me, Ruka too was staring at the scene with a bewildered look on his face.

I grabbed Ruka's arms and turned him around to face me. "Ruka," I said "What's wrong, tell me what has happened to Mikan. Why are the police here." He didn't say anything, just stared at me stunned. Before I could shake him again, I heard someone approach us.

"So you have shown your shameless face after all," said a voice so cold and dripping with anger, it sliced through my mind like a knife. My best friend and I turned around to face the angry violet stare of Hotaru Imai. Next to her were Anna, Nonoko, Sumire, Koko and half of the our classmates. They all look angry and bewildered.

I once again turned around to face Ruka. "Ruka, what happened to Mikan?" I asked my bestfriend, very loudly and desperately this time.

He stared at me for a second, his eyes glazed with fear then looked down. "She was raped Natsume," he said, " You were the last one to see her before the incident."

"What?"

FLASHBACK ENDS

The guilt crashed down upon him like a heavy blow in the face. Natsume gave a huge sigh, he didn't want to recall anything after that. Everything else everyone told him about his actions that day was like hearing a fictional story or listening to a news report. He couldn't remember anything. He knew who had done it but in his mind, it was still his fault, for allowing himself to be controlled so easily.

_I wonder what Hotaru will say to Ruka_ he thought.

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Ruka's POV

The walk to the Ediko Tsunachi took no less than five minutes. Its located right in the center of Tokyo's industrial district and they always have top notch business clientele dining there in plush velvet seats. I myself had been there last year for an office party which had lasted well into the night, along with Natsume who had brought along his ex-girlfriend Katie.

I was five minutes early and noticed that they had redecorated the exterior. Inside, the restaurant had a new metallic blue theme with steel sculptures lining the powder blue walls, square metallic tables and sapphire colored velvet seats surrounding them.

I turned left and approached the reception desk where on inquiry, a cute redhead receptionist informed me that all the tables were reserved and that they were booked for the next three weeks. "I am sorry we can't seat you here sir," she apologized.

I explained to her that I had an important meeting with my friend here and we decided it just minutes ago. "She asked me to come here," I said.

The receptionist gave a thoughtful look at that. "Is your friend a regular here?" she asked.

I told her Hotaru's name at which her eyes widened and she gasped and placed a hand over her mouth. "You are a friend of miss Imai, you should have told me this earlier. Miss Imai is a very special and a very regular customer here. I am sure we can find you a seat. We always keep a table reserved for our special customers. Its always an honor to have Miss Imai here," she said and directed me towards an empty booth in the farthest corner of the room.

After being seated, I called for some water and refused anything else from the waiter as I simultaneously stared at the entrance door next to the reception with a side glance at my watch.

_Just fifteen minutes had passed since the call and she had said she would meet me in twenty, right,so... five minutes more before I meet a woman whom I haven't met in six years, to ask about meeting another woman whom I also haven't met in six years so that she can agree to meet my best friend whom she too hasn't met in six years to resolve something that has been eating atleast at the two of our hearts for six years. Whew... this is going to be quite a reunion!_

Another glance at my watch told me another three minutes had passed. _So two more minutes, my mental clock silently calculated . I wonder what Hotaru's gonna say? How will she react? I don't think she'll be angry with me but... the most important question is, will she agree to let Natsume meet Mikan?_

I looked down at the table. Not knowing the answer to all this is making me nervous as hell and with the added stress of seeing her again,_ I am going to be a nervous wreck,_ I sighed.

"How are you?"

Huh, That voice, I looked up immediately. A beautiful blonde woman with violet eyes was staring at me, intensely. Is that...

_Wait, she just asked me how I am right, so..._

I stood up, "Hotaru." I said.

She gave me a small smile, "Yes, finally you recognized me," she said as her smile turned into a smirk and she touched her hair, "I dyed them recently, a colleague's suggestion, she said I looked good this way."

_Wow Hotaru with blonde hair._

We sat down and I couldn't stop staring at her. Her blonde hair were about shoulder length and she looked older, there was a slight maturity in her facial features and along with the aquamarine business suit she wore, they gave her a more refined appearance. She was still the same Hotaru though.

I felt my mind go into a whirlwind and the face of a ten year old Hotaru who had just entered the academy appeared remained for a moment and was replaced by that of a 15 year old Hotaru, who had just kissed me, in the moonlight, her face devoid of any blush as compared to my face which was flushed with heat and desire. I let the image stick in my mind for a moment and then recalled the last one six years later, of Hotaru, at 21 years old standing at the academy gates, with a determined look in her eyes, ready to face the world. Yes that was the last time I saw her.

"You haven't answered my question, yet, Ruka."

Her question broke me away from my thoughts.

"Oh, yes, um sorry. I am well, Hotaru chan and how are you?"

"As well as can be."

"Okay, um thats good, so... what have you been upto, ever since our graduation from the academy?" I asked although I knew all the basics from her profile.

"Putting my alice to good use. I have hired various technical type alices into my coumpany. Together we invent new communication devices and supply them to telcommunications industries in countries across the globe."

"That's cool," I said.

"Would you like to order now, sir, madam." We both turned to look at the waiter standing to my left, with a notepad in his hand.

"A coffee," said Hotaru. The waiter wrote down her order and turned to me, "The same," I said.

I turned my attention back to Hotaru, "So..., you work with your alice, that's great."

At that statement, Hotaru gave a puzzled expression or at least it _seemed_ like she gave one cause it lasted just half a second and now she's back to staring at me with her usual poker face,

"You didn't become a vet, Ruka?" she asked.

I smiled at her, "I wanted to, yes. After graduating from the academy, I did apply for two veterinary courses abroad, but, things didn't work out as planned, there were a few setbacks and so, I took an entirely different path.

"You failed the entrance tests?"

"What! uh, no," I said looking at her raised eyebrow. "Like I said, there were a few setbacks and someone... needed me.

She looked down at the table for a moment and then said, "Natsume?"

"Huh?"

She looked up, stared at me for a moment and then said, "You were worried about Natsume right? Your best friend, he needed you and you couldn't leave him, so you guys took the same course in college and studied together."

"Yes, Natsume needed me, Hotaru. He was in a lot of emotional pain after leaving the academy. I'm sure we all were but he had become extremely weak. He was still undecided about his career then and after applying for the veterinary courses, I had flown over to France to visit my mom for a month when, I was informed that Natsume was in the hospital. He had overused his alice for some reason and was dying."

I looked at Hotaru's concerned eyes. The coffee arrived and we both took our cups, silently pondering over what I had just said.

"He is well now, isn't he?" she asked.

"Yes, he is. The doctors said his damage wasn't fatal and one of them had a very powerful healing alice and managed to treat all of Natsume's wounds thereby saving his life." I took a sip of the coffee then continued, "I've never seen Natsume use his alice after that."

"You don't think he has lost his alice, do you?"

"No the doctors would have said so and its been a long time since then, he would have told me about it."

"Yes," she agreed.

I took another sip of the coffee and silently debated with myself, _should I tell her now? I'm almost at the point and she knows I won't suddenly call her up after all this time just to catch up on old times. But how do I raise the point? Should I just wait, not ask directly, talk some more, get to know her better, learn what else is going on in her life. Maybe after that I can ask to meet again and then spill the beans after we are more comfortable. Could that increase our chances of her agreeing to allow us to see Mikan?_

Hotaru kept her coffee-cup down and looked around our restaurant.

"I like it here, this restaurant is always abuzz with lively conversations, among the right kind of people," she said.

I put a temporary halt to my mental musings and looked at her. Her mesmerizing face was taking in the lively, energetic atmosphere around us. She nodded and smiled to a few people whom she knew and looked back at me. "I come here almost every other week for lunch or dinner. I only hold my most important meetings here."

"Oh," '_so is this meeting important too' _ I was suddenly tempted to ask her, although she doesn't even know what it is about in the first place.

"So, Ruka..."

"Yes?"

"What do you do for a living?"

I drank the last of my coffee and settled the empty cup down. "I am a lawyer."

Her eyes widened slightly, in what I hoped was admiration.

Before she could say anything else, I said, "Hotaru, the reason why I have called you here at such a short notice is that I need your help, badly. Are you, in contact with Mikan?"

Hotaru, looked at me shocked, "Ruka..."

"Yes, I know it comes as a bit of a surprise, so, suddenly," I took a pause before continuing, "Natsume, is wasting himself. He's already been to rehab once. He's... deeply depressed. The fallout with Mikan all those years back is the reason, we just know it. He's been through horrific relationships and can't find any happiness. He _needs _her Hotaru."

"For what?"

"Her love, he needs her love. He can never forget Mikan, she's, the only one who can help him. I have to bring them back together."

Hotaru gave me another blank look for a few seconds, then said, "I'm not in contact with Mikan."

"What!"

Hotaru gave me a pitiful look, "I'm sorry there's nothing I can do to help you Ruka."

I kept staring her. There must have been a very shattered expression on my face cause the look on her face morphed into an extremely concerned one.

"He loves her Hotaru," I said.

"Ruka, I am truly sorry, but I have no idea where Mikan is. We promised to be in touch after leaving the academy. She had gone to visit her grandpa and I had gone to the States, with my brother. He was finishing medical school then. I had given Mikan my number, she had to get a new cellphone then and promised to call as soon as she got one. I didn't have her address and she never did call."

"You mean, you never met her after that?"

"No."

"Never inquired about her?"

"Like I said, I didn't have her address. We had broken all ties with the academy and how far can you with just a name. 'Mikan Sakura' there are over fifty with that name in Tokyo's telephone directory alone."

I could feel cold vultures of despair already circling me, slowly. _What am I going to tell Natsume? _My head hurt I looked down at the table.

NORMAL POV

Hotaru Imai clanked down her coffee cup on the table. She was upset for her friend, she really, truly was, but the situation in her hands was hopeless. She really wanted to help Natsume, but...

Ruka was unaffected by the noise. He kept staring down at the table and didn't notice their empty coffee cups being whisked away and Hotaru calling the waiter for their check. She got up. It was six thirty. She had to reach an important board meeting in exactly half an hour. She glanced at her friend.

"Ruka I have to leave." She opened the zip of her purse and removed a white visiting card from in it. I had a big blue and green rhomboid logo with 'IMAI INDUSTRIES' written in large black font across it. Her contact number was below in smaller font. She handed it to him. He was looking up at her. There was sadness in his eyes, but some resolution as well.

Hotaru sighed. "I want to help you and Natsume in any way I can. I want you to call me tonight, after nine thirty and after speaking to Natsume. I'll inquire about Mikan again, although, I dropped that search long ago." She paused as Ruka too got up.

"I would have stayed and helped right now but, I have an board meeting at my company. A problem has come up. Some bastards from a reputed rival corporation, are suing us for intellectual property rights infringement. Its for something that _we_ invented a year ago. I have no idea how they got our plans, but we only realized it a month ago when launching our product into the market. In spite of us having all the required patents, they managed to furnish false papers from somewhere and are giving us a hard time at court. Its a million dollar lawsuit and we need to decide on our lawyers, so..."

A warm palm placed on her wrist stopped Hotaru abruptly. She looked up to see Ruka staring at her with a smile adorning his mouth and a yellow visiting card in his hand. On it was written 'RUKA NOGI Intellectual property rights solicitor.'

* * *

Across, the street from the Ediko Tsunachi, a blonde man glanced at his watch. It was six forty-five and if he started now, he would reach his best-friend's home in no less than five minutes. To decide upon what he would say to Natsume about his meeting with Hotaru however, he would require a little more than five minutes. He glanced at his watch again, looked around casually for a few minutes, gave an expression as if mulling over something, then pushing both his hands in his pockets and walked off from the site.

Outside the same restaurant, from a black limousine, a pair of violet eyes, followed the blonde man's retreating figure. After he disappeared from view, they returned back to the limousine's interior and now focused on the screen of the i phone in their owner's hands. A dainty, white finger scrolled through a list of contacts on the screen from a,b,c... finally reaching m. 'Mikan Sakura'. The finger tapped the name and the screen changed immediately to show Mikan Sakura's cell number, followed by that of the school at which she taught and finally her home number. Another small tap on the phone produced a list of options including one for a voice call to Mikan Sakura. The dainty white finger hovered over it for a few moments and its owner gazed up at the sky outside contemplating something...

* * *

**A/N:** And that was the second chapter of this fic and my very first chapter to cross 5000 words. I hope you liked it. Please feel free to drop a review about your comments and criticisms on this story. I'll be waiting with bated breath for them and no flames of course. If you don't like it, its fine. Just tell me why you didn't and where I have gone wrong. I'll rectify anything I can and as soon as possible. Thank you for reading.

Yes, Hotaru never lost touch with Mikan ever since leaving the academy. But yet, she didn't give Mikan's number to Ruka. Is she still angry with Natsume? Then why did she say she wanted to help him and what happened to Mikan after Natsume's flashback? Did they find the real culprit? Was Luna caught. Oh and what about Ruka and Hotaru's secret romance. They were involved back at the academy, but as seen in the start of this chapter, Natsume didn't seem to know anything about it. So is there a possibility for something between these two as well? All this and more in the next chapter of 'Waiting For Sunshine'


	3. Hotaru's case

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and I do not stand to profit from it.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Hotaru's case

Evening: 06.55pm

Hotaru's Office:

"Most of the documents have been signed Miss Imai, but our approval papers for contesting the fraud claim against Telco still lack your signature."

...

...

...

"Miss Imai?"

"Yes I heard you Amina," said Hotaru looking up from the desk at the bespectacled young secretary in front of her.

The young girl looked on intently at her boss. _Miss Hotaru's been in her own world ever since she arrived from that meeting five minutes ago,_ she thought. _I wonder what it was about._ She had just said that it was a personal matter and then rushed off quickly.

From the phone conversation, Amina had gathered that Mr. Ruka Nogi was an old friend and the meeting with him was important at least, if it seemed to have affected Hotaru so much that she got distracted every few seconds.

"Miss Imai..."

"Hotaru, Amina, it's been two months since you joined here and I'm not that old."

"Yes, of course Miss Hotaru. You have a board meeting in ten minutes."

"Board meeting?"

"Yes Miss Im... I mean, Miss Hotaru. It is to discuss about our contesting the lawsuit against Telco. You called it yourself yesterday and strictly asked for all the board members to sign the detailed approval of our claim before the meeting."

Amina looked at her boss again and then added a bit nervously, "Um, you haven't signed the approval yourself yet, Miss Hotaru."

Hotaru heard her but didn't reply for a moment, then asked, "Amina, has every one of the board members placed their signature on the approval?"

The young secretary looked at the documents in her hand and scanned the front page of each. "Mr. Yamato hasn't," she said and rearranged the pile clutching it against her chest.

Hotaru nodded at that. Benjiro Yamato was the senior most member in their company. At the age of fifty, he had a lot of wisdom to offer to their young lot. She needed a few more minutes to think. Perhaps if she spoke to Benjiro san...

"Amina"

"Yes, Miss Hotaru."

"I need you to reschedule our board meeting to 7.30."

"But, Miss Hotaru, that's..."

"It's important. Don't worry; I'll explain it all at the meeting. Give a quick call to a secretary of any one of the board members, she'll call the rest. Also I want you to find out if Benjiro san is free right now. I want to discuss something with him and it's crucial that I do it before the meeting."

"Yes, of course Miss Hotaru," said Amina, a bit baffled by the strange orders. Whatever it is, I must hurry. The board members will be arriving any second.

Hotaru watched her secretary quickly walk out of the office, closing the door behind her. _I'm so tired!_ It had been a long day indeed. Right from the 6.00 am meeting with the Chinese delegates in the morning, a five minute breakfast at 10, and immediately after that, the urgent teleconference, with the American law firm that lasted the entire afternoon. (She had even had to skip lunch for it). And then, Ruka's call! It had thrown her entire mind into a tizzy.

She tried to recall the afternoon's events. It was around 4.15 pm when he had called. She was sitting in the main conference room of her company, the same room where they were holding today's board meeting. Her eyes glued to the laptop and listening intently to a monologue on the headphone, about her company's assets as compared to that of Telco. This was being delivered by a brown haired, rugged lawyer, Mr. Richard Baker. He was from the intellectual property rights department, of a reputed law firm in Chicago. His face occupied most of the screen on her laptop. He was dressed in a grey business suit and looked very tired.

She checked her watch, it was 4.15 pm in Tokyo, that meant that it was about 12.15 am in Chicago. Yet Mr. Baker was still in his office talking to her! _These lawyers work like dogs_, she thought. Since the past hour, he had been explaining to her the grim situation that her company was in. "Telco is one of the giants in the telecommunications business," he explained. Just last year their company had a turnover of over 200 billion dollars. They have branches in forty countries, spread over five continents. By contrast, Imai Industries, although medium sized and quite popular is just another small fish in the ocean. It would be very difficult for them to win a lawsuit against such a big company.

"But this was to be one of the biggest inventions of our company to date," said Hotaru. "It was all top secret. I don't know how they got wind of our research, let alone enough information to make a complete functional product, ready to be sold into the market. But we have all the relevant papers and patents, including lab journals and other records with dates. Believe me, we have a good case," she said.

"That may be it Miss Imai," he said, "but, written proof isn't enough. Isn't it true that nearly half your research team dropped out mid-way for some unexplained reasons?"

"Yes, but so what? The rest of our research team can testify."

"Only to be contradicted by the remaining half of your team including the previous head Mr. Okahita Genji, program manager Mr. Hachirou Ezakiya and ten other senior members?"

"What! They are all going to testify?" asked the shocked young chairwoman.

"Yes, I have the defendant's witness list right here. It seems that before resigning from your company, all of them were offered higher paying jobs with promotions and more incentives by the delegates of Telco."

Hotaru, still looking unnerved, just nodded. Now she had the full grasp of what she was up against.

"Your rivals had been preparing for this case even before they launched this invention, Miss Imai. They knew you were going to file a lawsuit and had everything ready just in case. They have their own bunch of accomplished attorneys who take care of everything including obtaining all the necessary documents and proofs related to the case, fake or real, training the witnesses and even projecting the course and actions your company will take as the case proceeds."

He paused for a moment, and then continued, "Have you considered talking to a mediator?"

"A mediator! But why should we? We are the true inventors, no matter what fake documents, proofs or witnesses they furnish, the truth has to come out somehow!"

Mr. Baker chuckled, the lines on his forehead disappeared, his mouth curved into a half-smile and a slight sparkle of amusement appeared in his grey eyes. "You know nothing about intellectual property law, do you, Miss Hotaru?"

"No, not really," she admitted.

"Well for such an up and coming research company, you cannot afford to be so naive anymore." His face took on a more serious appearance, the light from his grey eyes disappearing making them look stone cold. "Let me be honest with you. Even if you are the right party and the justice system in America is very speedy and fair, yet, the chances of you winning this case are..."

The huge wooden doors of the conference room opened and in came the secretary Amina, "Miss Imai there's a call for you from someone named Mr. Ruka Nogi, he says that he's..."

Hotaru's heart beat quickened and she immediately turned from Mr. Baker's face on her laptop to Amina's all the while thinking Why has he called after all these years? What could he want?

"I explained to him that you're very busy right now, but he says it's urgent, so I'll tell him to call you later..."

"There's no need for that Amina. I'll speak to him right now."

Amina was startled but nevertheless, gave her the cellphone and watched her boss make a hurried discussion on the phone making a plan to meet up with this Nogi person in thirty minutes.

Hotaru spoke to him as quickly as she could. There were a million questions in her mind, but instinct told her to meet up with him as soon as possible. She finished the call and handed the cellphone back to Amina. She then turned her gaze back to the American lawyer waiting for her on the other side of the world.

"I'm very sorry for that Mr. Baker."

"That's all right Miss Imai. We're nearly done here anyway. I have already forwarded to you the draft of the lawsuit that we will file."

"Yes."

"But I must add that my firm is extremely reluctant to take the case and even if we do, I warn you that winning is almost impossible. So I still suggest you consider settling."

Hotaru gritted her teeth. There was no way she was going to do that. Over the past two weeks, Mr. Baker's firm and even a few of her own board members had been pushing for the issue of settlement in front of her. "There's no way we're going to win this case. Telco is too big and powerful a company. Let's just settle with a few of their American bucks. Its less harmless that way," they all said.

_But why?_ She thought. It was her company's invention. _Their sweat, their grind, their hard work. Why should they settle for a few American bucks when they deserved full recognition for their product?_

She very well knew that the few American bucks that everyone kept shoving down her throat, were at least two million dollars. That's what Telco's company secretary had implied in one of his e-mails regarding the lawsuit.

But is it really worth all our efforts?

* * *

Evening 7:15 pm

The Executive Director of Imai Industries, Mr. Benjiro Yamato's office.

Mr. Benjiro Yamato is a warm, friendly quinquagenarian and is looked upon as a father figure by Hotaru. He was one of the very first employees to be recruited by Imai Industries and has been with the company for five years. And as Hotaru had discovered throughout these past five years, Yamato san's advise has always been invaluable to the company and indispensable for its progress.

_I really hope he can give me some of that sage advice today too,_ thought Hotaru as she opened the executive director's door and walked into his office. Benjiro san was seated behind his desk, reading some legal papers. He placed them down when he saw Hotaru, walk in to his office, take a chair and sit across him.

"Good evening Hotaru chan. Didn't we already have an appointment in Imai Industries' conference room today?" he smiled.

Hotaru didn't return his smile though. "Yes. I'm sorry Benjiro san. I had to postpone today's board meeting. There is something I need to discuss, or rather, ask you about, before we hold the meeting."

He gave a thoughtful expression. "Hmm and what would that be?"

"I had a very long teleconference with our American lawyer this afternoon. He still wants us to consider settling. He's saying that it's impossible for us to win this case."

"As is half our board Hotaru chan. Surely you aren't unnerved by this, are you? We have spoken over this so many times in the past week."

"I know Benjiro san, but it seems that the situation has changed drastically now and feel like I'll have to take drastic measures."

Benjiro Yamato stared at her for a moment and pondered over this. Hotaru he had been his staunch ally against the settlement issue and had opposed it as vehemently as possible. Surely after all this, she wouldn't buckle under the pressure and...

He waited a moment more and then decided to ask her this. He grunted nervously before beginning. "Hotaru chan, you are our chairwoman and the head of our company. Any motion that the board passes, I'll follow accordingly. But, before you consider settling, at least think of all the hard work that we had put into this project and the passionate arguments you had had to put forward, to convince the board, so that Imai Industries could fight this case and..."

"What! Benjiro san, no!" said Hotaru, horrified. "I didn't mean those drastic measures. Why I was simply going to tell you that we should consider hiring a new law firm. Japanese."

"Oh," said the old man, "You really scared me there, young lady. But this, hiring a new law firm idea, just a few days before our court date is... strange and, also not likely to receive wholehearted approval by our board either, mind you."

"I know Benjro san. But I think we need a firm that will understand our us and our sentiments better. Someone that won't dishearten us and repeatedly ask about settlement. Someone who's willing to fight for the underdog, someone of our own country, someone with patriotic fervor, someone with..."

"Hmm. And this sudden rise in your patriotic fervor isn't just to do with our company's sentiments, does it.? Who are they, Hotaru?"

"Who?"

"The law firm that you've considered hiring."

Law firm! Wait, Ruka just gave me his own card. Surely he does work for a firm or...

"Um, Benjiro san."

"Yes?"

"I, actually don't know the firm. I met an old, school friend of mine today. He is a property rights lawyer too. I told him about our problem and he gave me his card."

"You should speak to him right now then."

"I should?"

"Yes, if you don't know whether he works for a firm or not, I'm sure you just had a casual meeting with him and just mentioned the case. Not gone into the details."

"Yes, that's true."

"But you're considering telling this to the board today, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Then I suggest you call him right now and ask everything about him and his firm. Tell him as much about the case as you can in five minutes and see if they agree to take it. Only then we can present this before the board."

"Yes, your're right Benjiro san. I'll call him right now."

* * *

The public school at which Mikan worked was housed in a quaint grey building in the middle of Toyoshita's, most busy district. The students were often distracted by the noise of the various vehicles, pedestrians, shopkeepers and other assortments of people one finds in busy commercial areas. The dreary school building, only received their attention twice each weekday. Once at seven in the morning when parents huddled outside the school gate to drop off their children with goodbyes and then after that at the same day at three in the afternoon when they came back to pick up their children with welcoming hugs.

From the inside however, the school building wasn't so dreary. The students loved the pleasing aquamarine paint on their classroom walls and corridors. There were wood paneled doors and window frames and the flooring consisted of dull orange yellow tiles. It was overall, a nice environment for studying and most of the teachers enjoyed their classes (although only a few of the students enjoyed theirs.)

However, by popular opinion among the students, the best of their classes was without doubt PT or Physical Training. There were hardly any absentees reported in that class. The young PT teacher too was extremely benevolent and encouraging. She rarely punished students (She never needed to. They had a habit of hanging on her every word.)

In a report submitted to the school principal, in the past two years, all the students had passed their PT exams with above average grades and almost twenty five percent of them had managed to score full. There were three more pages in the report about the PT class and its teacher's merits. They currently lay on the principal's desk and were right now the main point of discussion among the colleagues in her cabin.

There were five of them in all, huddled together on the wood and black leather chairs, surrounding her desk. The principal herself was seated comfortably in a similar one, behind her desk. Silver-grey hair adorned her head in a stylish boy-cut. Her rectangular, gold-framed spectacles, brought out her blue eyes. She smiled at her colleagues. They had started their discussion only five minutes ago and without argument, had arrived at a mutual conclusion.

"I am sure that she knows about the promotion," said Mr. Aizawa, "but receiving the 'Teacher of the Year' award, at our annual function this month will surely surprise her."

"Yes, she'll be pleasantly surprised," grinned Manami Ashikaga, the science teacher and at thirty-five, the youngest among the current group.

"Then its settled. We'll make the announcement at the monthly teacher's meeting tomorrow?"

Shouldn't we at least give her some warning first?" asked Manami, "Otherwise, she'll be overwhelmed."

"Of course." smiled the fifty-two year old principal. She pressed a red buzzer on her desk and within seconds, a young office boy entered the room. The principal looked at him and said, "Can you please run off and call the 'teacher of the year' to our cabin."

Everyone laughed.

The boy looked confused. "Who?"

"Miss Sakura Mikan."

* * *

The main conference room of Imai industries was located on the fourth floor. About two thousand square feet, it was the largest room in the entire building. The walls were done in crisp cream and peach with two large windows on each of the two opposite walls. The third wall had the huge oak paneled double doors that granted access to the room while the wall opposite it was accessorized with a flat paneled LCD screen where most of their teleconferences were broadcast.

It was 8.30 in the evening and the rescheduled board meeting was currently in progress. A cool evening breeze drifted in through the windows, fluttering the off-white linen curtains and some strands of Hotaru's shoulder length hair as she met the consternating gazes of her board members. Forty-five minutes had passed since she had dropped the bomb shell. It took just two lines, "We are going to hire a new law firm, Isozaki and Tansho law offices." (It was the law firm where Ruka and Natsume worked) and in the next forty-five minutes, they had collectively exhausted her with their questions and inhibitions.

Forty-five minutes later, she had told them everything there was to know about Ruka's law firm (i.e whatever he had told her in their brief conversation before the meeting) and why they should take their company's case.

But the larger part of them remained unconvinced. Not that she had expected them to pass the motion without second thought. But it had been an exhausting day for her, thanks to all the added twists and she was tired. As if that wasn't enough, she felt her stomach growl only to remind her that she hadn't eaten a thing since morning.

I really don't want to eat anything right now anyway, she thought. Of the total twenty board members in her company (including her), eighteen of them were present today. Damn, this is a herculean task.

She did a quick sweep about the room. Benjiro san is on my side thought Hotaru as she looked at the executive director of her company and her second in command. Next to him on the left, were the other two senior most members of her company, Kichida san and Yoshida san. I can count them on my side too. They too had protested at first but after much convincing by her and a little persuasion by Benjiro san they could see why hiring the Isozaki and Tansho law firm for their case was a better prospect.

The young man sitting on Kichida san's left didn't share the same view, however. Twenty-five year old Nijito Taniguchi was sitting with his hands folded tightly against him and with a very grim expression on his face. He was the youngest member of the board and a good friend of Hotaru, whom he looked up to. She had appointed him to the board just three months ago and a year after he had joined their company. He possessed the mind reader Alice and was a great addition to the HR department.

She remembered the first time she had met him, his very first day in the company. She was sitting in her cabin dictating important business letters to the ever efficient Amina. The dictation was interrupted by a knock on the door, which on receiving Hotaru's permission was opened by a young bright eyed, twenty-four year old man.

"Good morning, Miss Imai," he had said, "I am Nijito Taniguchi. I was asked to see you before I began by day as an HR executive in your company, madam."

Twenty-six year old Hotaru obliged him with a smile. Benjiro san had informed her about their new recruit and Amina had already laid a carefully prepared folder containing his resume and other important documents on Hotaru's desk. She asked Nijito to sit down, picked up his resume folder from the desk and started thumbing through it.

"It's given here that you were in the alice academy."

"Yes madam," he said.

"That is excellent. I graduated from there too. What alice do you posses?"

Nijito looked silently at his new boss. He had heard of her intelligence and read up her tremendously impressive CV before coming here and had had a sneaking suspicion that she was an alice. But he looked at the young secretary seated next to him and hesitated.

"That's alright. Amina knows about alices and has been in my company for some time. You can speak freely in front of her."

This was enough encouragement for the young Nijito. "The mind reader alice," he said. "But it's not just that. I have trained my alice to be able to sometimes enter and influence a person's mind as well."

The younger woman in the room gasped. Nijjito smiled.

Hotaru chewed her lip. "That will be all Nijito," she said, "I need to see you again today though, privately, after work."

After Nijito got up and left, Hotaru continued with the rest of her work and the day went by swiftly.

In the afternoon, Nijito came back to her cabin again, for his private audience with the boss.

Once again asking him to sit down, Hotaru had his folder with her again and had been reading it when he entered. She placed it on her desk and turned to her newest employee.

"Nijito, would I be wrong if I classified your alice into the Dangerous ability type?"

"No, not at all," said the young man.

"Were you in the dangerous ability class?"

"In high school, yes. That's when the academy discovered the latter part of my alice."

"You said that you had trained your alice to enter and influence a person's mind. How did you do that, Nijito?"

"Nijito Taniguchi, leaned a little back in his chair, pushing his long legs forward and adopted a casual stance."

"From his resume and whatever she had observed of him so far, Hotaru could tell that Nijito Taniguchi had a very casual and laidback attitude towards life. In spite of all that, he was extremely intelligent as well as extremely confident about himself and his abilities. She couldn't get past the notion that he seemed, somewhat like a rebel.

"It was quite simple actually," he began, "Since I have begun reading the person's mind, I have already entered it, partly. But I soon discovered, that as I concentrated harder, I could get all of his or her memories as well as experience his or her feelings, emotions, become one with that person. It was like I had entered their body, through their mind. I could feel his or her heartbeat, see what he or she was seeing, the feeling was... impossible, strange, and weird."

"This was when you were in high school?"

"No, in the first year of middle school. From then on, I began to do it every single moment. It wasn't like when I was mind reading. At those times, I could only hear the thoughts of people as the words passed unfiltered through my brain, in sentence after sentence. But here, I could experience the very feeling of being that person! So I concentrated harder and harder, even trying to catch the academy students when they were involved in activities that involved intense use of all their senses."

Hotaru nodded and Nijito continued, "It could be when they were being punished by a teacher or called to the principal's office, or, basically any kind of stressful situation. I would enter their minds then and listen to their thoughts, feel what they were feeling. The adrenaline pumping through their body, the flight or fight response…"

He looked at Hotaru mid-sentence. She still had on a poker face and she looked at him impatiently, urging him to go on.

"…by then, it required me only a little amount of concentration to do so. The rest, I spent on listening to their thoughts and trying to add my own in between."

"You tried to add your own thoughts?" Now, Hotaru had a genuinely puzzled expression on her face. It made Nijito smile.

"Yes. It was more like communicating with them telepathically. Only, what I said to them in their mind was more like a voice in their head. They never know it's me."

"So, you were able to communicate with them telepathically, making them think that it was their own conscience, thereby influencing them to act out what you said?"

"Yes, exactly. In stressful or indecisive situations, a human being always looks for some advice, some guidance and there's no one more accomplished to give such advice than someone who's experiencing the exact same thing, that's…"

"The person himself. Or rather his mind, which is… under your control," said Hotaru, her expression having returned to the usual blank one, betraying none of her inner thoughts or feelings.

Nijito smiled at her again.

She pondered over all this. It was then that her gaze went to the fancy dark blue bracelet with large black gems, on Nijito's right blue arm. She realized that it was an alice restrainer.

Nijito followed her gaze and said, "It doesn't just limit my alice, it can also nullify it completely. I'm supposed to wear it all times. So don't worry. I'm not reading your mind right now, or influencing your thoughts."

"Oh, I wasn't worried about that," she said, "there's no little voice in my head!"

Nijito laughed and saw Hotaru smile for the second time that day.

"You should smile more," he said, "It makes you look beautiful."

Hotaru frowned at him and she couldn't resist saying, "Is that supposed to mean that I don't look beautiful otherwise?"

Nijito was caught off guard at that. He looked puzzled for a second, then simply laughed

_What did I just do! _Thought Hotaru. _Did I just say that to my newest employee?_ She was horrified. _What the hell is wrong with me? This is so… unlike me_.

From years of reading people's minds, he had gained some expertise in guessing what expression went with which thought. But for the life of him, Nijito couldn't decipher Hotaru's perfect poker face. He could see that she was a little embarrassed though, from her sudden refusal to make eye contact with him, for the moment.

Hotaru for her part was indeed embarrassed. She had said the most impulsive thing in her life. Except for… Oh no, not that again. Five years and yet she couldn't stop thinking about him!

Nijito decided to answer her question, breaking her away from her thoughts. "You are very beautiful, Hotaru. But, the only thing more beautiful than an incredibly beautiful woman, is an incredibly beautiful woman who smiles."

Only years and years of practice in controlling her emotions gave Hotaru, the ability successfully hide the blush that threatened to break out all over her face. He had just, blatantly flirted with her and she couldn't help but find it cute.

She looked up to meet his gorgeous grin. A few strands of dark curly hair fell across his shining blue eyes. He brushed them off and grinned again, slightly deepening the cute little cleft on his chin. Looking at him, the expression 'pretty boy' came to mind.

Not able to handle the awkwardness anymore, she quickly changed the subject, "How did the academy find out about the other part of your alice?"

Nijito, once again caught off guard, frowned. But, he seemed determined to tell everything. "A few months into High school, I had perfected my ability to influence others. I had made a lot of minor, unimportant decisions for people and had aroused no one's suspicions. I was also, going through a bit of a voyeuristic phase then."

"Looking at girls bathing?"

"No, nothing like that," said, Nijito, astonished.

"Don't worry, I was just joking."

"Of course. Anyway, it was more like observing people, in their daily routines. Just reading their minds, seeing how I could influence them. But, one day things got out of hand…"

"How?"

"There was a girl I liked. I couldn't muster the courage to even look her in the eye, forget asking her out. I was a complete nerd back then. Thick-framed glasses, straight A student, piles of books with me everywhere, shy around girls…" he drifted off, unsure how to go further.

Hotaru waited patiently. His demeanor had suddenly changed from confident to very nervous and anxious. She knew that, a life-altering situation had taken place in his life at this point and he needed time to build up the confidence to describe it.

Nijito gave her an intense gaze before continuing, "I had sneaked up on a tree branch, close to her window, just to observe her. I knew what I was doing was wrong but try telling that to a fourteen year old hormonal guy." He shrugged. "She was with her boyfriend and they were having sex."

"As much as my mind told me to, I couldn't pull myself away from the scene of a boy and girl, in front of me and like some reflex response, I found myself entering the boy's mind."

Now Hotaru had a genuinely shocked expression on her face.

It was Nijito's turn to be embarrassed, but the words had left his mouth and he couldn't stop the flow. "I could experience the feelings that the boy was going through. The exhilaration, the extreme pleasure… I had never felt any of it."

"As I was listening to the boy's pleasurable thoughts a very cold voice suddenly said, _Nijito Taniguchi, I know what you're up to, get down from that tree."_

* * *

It was snowing lightly when Mikan stepped out into the school courtyard. She pulled the edges of her jacket close together and gave a slight shiver. It was 6.30 in the evening and the school building was almost empty. Only a trickling of the school staff had remained behind, including her and Manami Ashikaga.

Mikan never waited this long in the school. She usually left at 5.30 as soon as the last few students had left (since she always had the last period of the day free thereby giving her ample time to finish the day's work). But, her best friend Manami had a little pending work today and they mutually hated to break their daily ritual of going home together after work. So, Mikan had stayed.

Another cool breeze drifted toward her and Mikan shivered again. In spite of the cold weather, she was in an extremely fantastic mood today. Even with the extra one hour she had had to do her makeup and priming, her excitement had lifted the day's stress off her face making her glow.

After being informed that she would be receiving the Teacher of the Year Award, Mikan had been on cloud nine. She had a date today and had been wondering throughout the morning how slowly the day seemed to be going when she had received the summons to the principal's office. After the good news had been delivered, the rest of the day went by in a breeze.

Once again, a cold wave of wind hit her causing her entire body to shiver in reaction to the decreased temperature. What's taking Manami so long, thought Mikan, She said that she'd be out in a minute. Should I wait for her in the car?

The next draft of cold wind answered her question and Mikan set off towards the parking lot. This happens almost every other day anyway and she knows I always wait for in the car when I get tired of waiting outside. She stopped in front of the sole bright red Mazda in the parking lot.

Just like her habit of leaving school late, her best friend always forgot to lock her car. Mikan sighed and opened the car door. Settling comfortably into the passenger seat, she checked her lipstick in the rear-view mirror. Its hot pink shade went perfectly with the pink and peach taffeta cocktail dress under her jacket. A few strands of her brown hair had escaped the tight clasp of her bun. She sighed again and opening the bun, started to run her fingers through the plentiful locks.

She had begun retying them when a voice said, "Leave them be, Mikan chan, they look better that way."

Mikan laughed at the speaker who had slid into the driver's seat, whilst she continued retying her hair.

After a few moments, Manami had eased her Mazda out of the parking lot and outside the school gate. As she continued driving, Mikan said, "You know, you forgot to lock your car again today."

"Oh, yes that," said Manami whilst checking her purse, "I never seem to be able to remember to take them out. It's really difficult, you know. Thank God for our school's upgraded security though. That old watchman that they hired last year, he's extremely efficient. Not a single theft at our school in the past one year."

"Indeed," said Mikan, "and I assume that the one at your apartment building is equally as efficient. He always guards your unlocked car in the parking lot?"

"Now, Mikan, I have never left my car unlocked at home, or outside the grocery store, or the gym, or anywhere else..."

"Oh, just saying. It's never too early to develop Alzheimers, you know."

"Now, Mikan..."

"Mabye you should see Wendell..."

"No, I'm not seeing your neurologist boyfriend."

"Oh you know, how these things are...," began Mikan, not yet done with teasing her friend about her memory problem.

But Manami cut her short, "Of course if he's broke and in need of a patient, I wouldn't mind giving him a few..."

"Manami!" chided Mikan, before playfully poking her best friend in the ribs.

"Ha ha," giggled the other girl as she navigated her way through Toyoshita's narrow, snow covered roads. Toyoshita was a large town on Japan's northern most island, Hokkaido and she had lived there all her life. Although Mikan had spent her childhood there too, she had only met Manami, three years back, when she had joined the town's school. Manami knew that Mikan had graduated from some fancy school in Tokyo, but the bubbly brunette had never talked about it.

The only parts of Mikan's life that Manami and everyone else in Toyoshita knew about were her early childhood and her past three years. But Manami, at least didn't mind that and had quickly warmed up to Mikan's good hearted nature. That time of her life, though, still seemed like a gaping hole to her best friend, which made its presence known more and more as their friendship had deepened. She couldn't help but wonder that the reason why Mikan never let herself trust someone completely had something to do with her untold past.

But she had made some progress in that department, ever since she had met Wendell, a year ago.

As Mikan stared out of the window of Mamami's car, she was mystified by the snowy vistas of Toyoshita's mountains and valleys and placid frozen lakes. Her mind drifted off and in a while, the natural vistas gave way to concrete buildings and wide, paved streets. They were in a more affluent part of the town, ten minutes away from the school and Manami, managed to easily drive through the slight traffic on the street before stopping in front of a huge, ornate, white brick building with golden columns.

It was the 'Teppayanki Grand Hotel', the jewel of Toyoshita. Mikan had never been there before. The hospital were her boyfriend worked, was throwing a party at the hotel today, to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their foundation. And she was his date, for the evening

Mikan was extremely nervous as she got out of her friend's car. Manami simply said, "Don't be so anxious. You look terrific. Wendell loves you and so will all his colleagues. Just remember to smile."

Mikan smiled and said goodbye to her best friend and watched her car drive off as she walked into the hotel's lobby.

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry for delaying this for so long. I hope you liked this chapter. Took me a lot of effort to get this done. I know I have added a lot of twists, but that's just to keep you guys at the edges of your seats. At least that's what I think, so please review and tell me whether you found this exciting. I am welcome to all your suggestions and criticisms.

So, the plot thickens and a lot of new characters have been introduced. But don't worry, they have only been added to give a little support to our favourite main characters. Mikan and Natsume are still the stars of this story, although I have shifted the focus off them for a little bit. They are definitely meeting in the next chapter. Not immediately, but towards the end. You have my word and I miss Natsume too. He'll be around a lot in the next chapter and the issues between him and Mikan will be resolved in this story's fifth chapter.

Please review and don't worry, I'll definitely update within the next week. Thank you for reading.


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